Coupling for shafts



y 1932- H. RUSBY COUPLING FOR SHAFTS Filed Aug. 50, 1929 '2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR hermannPuay BY AT'TORNEY May 31, 1932. A H. RusBY 1,360,552

' COUPLTNG FOR'SHAFTS Filed Aug 60. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Hermann Busby,

ATT'ORNEY Patented May '31 1932.

INC-l-HOUSE ELECTRIC 8;, MANUFACTURING COMPANY,,A CORPORATION OF BENIN:-

SYLVANIA CQUPLING FOR SHAFTS Application filed August 30, 1929, Serial No. 389,398, and in Great Britain September 21, 1928.

normal axis of rotation and also for-limited relative longitudinal I displacements;

In United States Patent 1,633,935, to

George H. Fletcherfand Herman Busby, is-

sued June :28, 1927, and assigned to the West- .inghouse' Electric and Manufacturing Company, is described an improved form of couplingfor connecting rotary members comprising a pair of links connected by universal joints, at one end, to one of the members of the coupling and, at the 7 other end, to

cranks on a shaft which is disposed in a trans verse plane of, and journaled on, the other membertobe"coupled.--

-My present invention PIOVlClGS a coupling of an improved'typ'e wherein the transverse shaft is provided.with-;pairsof crank members or arms which support between them thespherical joints through whichqconnection is made", by means of links, to the other member to be coupled. v

In orderthat the forces, which are exerted on the mechanism, when in operation, may be r V: distributed in an'advantageous manner, the

journal bearingsfor the transverse shaft are disposed between each of the pairs'of cranks or arms. The forces exerted between thecoupled members are transmitted. through the. pairs of arms and are taken upat the shaft bearings without introducing bending m0- mentswithin the shaft and, consequently, the parts may be oflight construction.

Preferab1y, the coupling is enclosed in a dust-proof casing which is connected to flanges on'the members to lie-coupled, and

suitable meansare provided forsupplying.

lubricating oil to the wearingsurfaces; I -An object ofithe invention-1s to provide 'a c'oupling for rotary members which will permit relative motion, between the members 7 i to be coupled-in alladirectionsexcept-angu- 'larlytothe plane of rotation,

Another objectof the invention isto provide a'coupling mechanism which is of simple and rugged construction and in which the forces are transmitted from the one to the other member in such manner that excessive bending moments are avoided. I

Although capable of general application, my invention is particularly adapted for transmitting torque from a motor-driven quill shaft of a locomotive to a driving-wheel axle." -The foregoin'gobjects of my. invention may be achieved by means of the mechanism more particularly-described in the following specification, together with othei objects which will be apparent upon studying the description in connection with the accom-' panying drawings, wherein,

Figure l is a view, in cross section, of the coupling mechanismv taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 3, a portion of the connecting line being broken away to better Qillustrat'e its construction,

Fig. 2 is .a plan view of the coupling,-show{ ting the transverse shaft and the member on whch it is mounted partly in section, the

section "beingtake'n on the line II"II*of I I i i Fig. 3 is'a view, in sidexelevation,of'tlie coupling, theouter casing beingshown' in section, taken on the line. IIIIII 'ofthe Fight. I c P As'shown in the drawing, .the' couplingfis suitable for use on an electric locomotive for coupling a hollow driving shaft or quill shaft l'to a driving-wheel axle '2,- which isfldis posed co'aXially.with, and extends through, the quill shaft. The part ofthe coupling which is secured to the axle 2 comprises a flange or collar 3- of approximately rectangular shape having, on one side, two enlargedf portions 4 that are provided with openings 5 for receiving bearingbushings 6 whichare;

in such'manner that it lies in a plane" at bright angles ,to the axis of-the axle2, and;

as nearly as possible, to the a x le 2 without actually bearing upon it. Each of the openings 5 is provided with a slot 80f such width,

as to permit .journal portions 9, ofvthe shaft:

7,to be passed through them when assem bling the mechanism.

As shown, each of the bearing bushings 6 is formed in two halves, one of which may be inserted end-wise into the openings back of the shaft- 7 and rotated through an angle of about 180 to close the slot 8 and to make room for the insertion of the second half of the bushing, thereby completely enclosing the journal portions 9. The bushings 6 may then be rotated through an angle of about 90 to their final positions and secured against further rotation by the insertion of keys 10, which are provided with locking means 11.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the transverse shaft 7 is provided, at each end, with a pair of crank members or arms 12 which are disposed in such manner that a journal portion 9 lies between the arms of each pair. In order that the transverse shaft 7 and the arms 12 may oscillate through an angle when the coupling is in service, the enlarged portions 4 are so shaped as to permit thenecessary movement. Each pair of arms 12 on the transverse shaft 7 supports, near its end, a pin 13 Which is disposed parallel to the shaft and carries, between the arms 12, a spherical bearing member 14.

As shown in Fig. 1, the portion of the coupling'which is carried by the quill shaft comprises two pairs of crank members or arms 18 which extend radially from the quill shaft.

As best seen in Fig. 1, each pair of arms 18 on the quill shaft 1 supports a pin 17 which carries, between the arms 18, another spherical bearing member 16 similar to the bearing member 14 carried by the pin 13 on the transverse shaft 7. In order to transmit torque from the quill shaft 1 to the wheel axle 2, the spherical portions 16 and 14 on the arms 18 and the arms 12, respectively, engage correspondingly shaped bearings at the en s of a pair of links 15.

As described hereinbefore, it is evident that the coupling will permit limited relative movement between the two coupled members 1 and 2' in all directions other than rotation about their longitudinal axes and will effectively transmit torque from one member to the other, while permitting misalignment or I relative tilting movement of the members to take place freely.

By reason of the disposition of the crank arms 12 on each side of the transverse-shaft journals 9, and the attachment of the connectin links in a transverse plane of the journfis, the forces aremore directly trans mitted between the members 1 and 2, and bending moments in the shaft 7 are reduced to a' minimnm,'thereby enhancing the reliabilityand durability of themechanism.

The transverse-shaft bearings 6 are lubricated by means of grooves 24 in the journals 9 into which oil is thrown by centrifugal force when the coupling is in service. The

bearings 14 at the ends of the links15 are supplied with oil by means of the tubes 25,

carried by the links and disposed to pick up is disposed to substantially balance the unbalanced mass of the transverse shaft 7 and its bearings and to ensure substantially balanced operation of the mechanism.

Thecoupling is enclosed by a muff-like member 20 constituting an oil-bath and dustproof casing and resiliently supported, at eachend, by 5 ring members 21 which are connected by anges 22 and 23 on the'axle and on the hollow shaft, respectively.

Although I have described a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications may be made in the details of the construction and in the arrangement of the several cooperating parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention 1. In a device for coupling rotatable elements, in combination, a shaftcarried by one of the elements and disposed in a plane transverse thereto, a plurality of bearings on said element for journaling the shaft, a pair of crank arms on the shaft disposed witha bearing between the arms of each pair, a plurality of pairs of crank arms carried b the other element to be coupled, spherical earing members carried by, and disposed between, the arms of each pair of crank arms, and link members for connecting the spherical bearing'portions and carried by the, elements to be coupled. r 2. A shaft coupling comprising a driving and a driven member, a shaft journalled in the driven member transversely to the axis thereof, a plurality of crank arms on said shaft, links connected by universal joints to said crank arms and to the driving member, cavities in the links for receiving'oil, ducts leading from the cavities to bearing surfaces whereby oil may be supplied to the surfaces by centrifugal force, a casing for the coupling and means for conveying oil from the easing to thecavities in the links while the coupling is rotating.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this twelfth day of August,

1929. s HERMANN RUSBY.

. Mam.assassins- 

